分析 Raf Simons 離開 Dior 主因
“Everything is done in three weeks, maximum five. You have no incubation time for ideas, and incubation time is very important.”
近期時裝界熱話莫過於 Raf Simons 離開 Dior 的消息，短短 5 年間第 2 次有藝術總監離職，對於 Dior 來說實屬不幸，當然大家更加關注的是 Raf Simons 離開的前因後果。
在 Raf Simons 執掌 Dior 三年半時間裡，製作了 20 個系列，在設計上將以往任職 Jil Sander 的極簡設計風格延續到高貴華麗的 Dior 女裝設計中，並取得一個相當出色的平衡，甚至將科技和運動設計元素融入當中，在業界贏得不少掌聲。
而在賬面上看，早在 John Galliano 主理的年代，早已為 Dior 銷售額進賬兩成，背負著這上升的壓力，Raf Simons 在首季開賣時亦創下了兩位數增幅，甚至出現供不應求的情況，雖然這些增長並不可以全部歸功於 Raf，但可以肯定的是 LVMH 集團將 Raf Simons 和 Dior 放在一起，是一個相當成功的商業策略。
當外界一直看好之時，Raf Simons 的毅然離開，馬上引來外界不少傳測，在離任聲明中 Raf Simons 並沒有作出更多解釋。而其實早在年頭《Dior and I》電影中，已經可以看到 Raf 與 Dior 對於 Haute Couture (高級定製)的意見上有所分歧，在他「人人穿 Dior」的願景中，他認為不應花費過多精神在當中，所以在他主理下的高級定製比起以往有著更高的可穿性，此舉同時令不少人詬病會讓品牌 Ready-To-Wear 和 Haute Couture 的界限變得糢糊，喪失了品牌的本質。
當然背負著沈重銷售和創作壓力，雖然 Raf Simons 在過去並沒有大肆抱怨，但在最近 Business of Fashion 的專訪中我們可以看到箇中端倪：
“I don’t want to do collections where I’m not thinking.”
以上一句負責任的說話總結了 Raf Simons 離任的主因，只有一對手和一個設計團體，一年春夏、秋冬、早春/秋，再加上 Haute Couture，共 6 個系列，還有大大小小的展覽和新店開幕所帶來的工作量的確令 Raf Simons 沒有更多時間去思考與創作。對於持續創作，Raf Simons 絕對能勝任，但由早到晚，一浪接一浪的設計過程顯然讓他感到窒息，例如他要在回工作室路程上把靈感記錄在電話中，以免忙碌工作過後會忘記；他甚至覺得每個系列短短 3 個星期的製作時間根本無法完成整個設計工序，特別歎息在創作過程中，沒有時間去反思和沈澱，更莫說自己的私人思考和休息空間，而這對於 Raf Simons 來說是必須的。訪問部份節錄如下：
The day after the Dior Fall ready-to-wear show, Raf and I meet for lunch at a restaurant near Avenue Montaigne. He has had some sleep, but not enough to counteract the pace of the previous few days. The show was held in a modernistic tent in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, with more than 1,000 guests. The standout was the tailoring, in particular the lean, dropped-shoulder coats, worn at times over boldly printed bodysuits or a minidress. What the collection lacked in classic Dior romance, it made up for in modern ease. And the coats would have no equal during the Fall season.
“You know, we did this collection in three weeks,” he tells me, not defending the show but, rather, stating the reality that now faces high-fashion houses. “Tokyo was also done in three weeks. Actually everything is done in three weeks, maximum five. And when I think back to the first couture show for Dior, in July 2012, I was concerned because we only had eight weeks.”
He smiles. “And now we never have time like that. And you know? It’s clearly possible to do it, if I have my ideas together. The machine is there. Of course, we have to push really hard. It’s not like we think the ideas and mushrooms come out of the ground.”
Some months ago Raf mentioned that he wanted to create a new studio structure at Dior, so I ask him about that.
“When you do six shows a year, there’s not enough time for the whole process,” he explains. “Technically, yes — the people who make the samples, do the stitching, they can do it. But you have no incubation time for ideas, and incubation time is very important. When you try an idea, you look at it and think, Hmm, let’s put it away for a week and think about it later. But that’s never possible when you have only one team working on all the collections.”
“Also,” he goes on, “what people forget is that when you do a runway show, it eats time away from your schedule. Just the prep time before a show is six or seven days, especially when you are showing abroad.”
“So you’re constantly creating,” I say, “with no time.”
“But I have no problem with the continuous creative process,” he says. ‘Because it’s the reason I’m in this world. It’s always happening. I just did a show yesterday. Just now, while waiting in the car, I sent four or five ideas to myself by text message, so I don’t forget them. They are always coming.”
“Like what? Tell me one.”
He shrugs. “Stupid things. I was just thinking about this kind of very masculine tailoring you see in the navy. It can be stupid things, like a certain button. But I’ve been doing this my whole life. The problem is when you have only one design team and six collections, there is no more thinking time. And I don’t want to do collections where I’m not thinking. In this system, Pieter [Mulier, Simons’ right hand] and I can’t sit together and brainstorm — no time. I have a schedule every day that begins at 10 in the morning and runs through the day, and every, every minute is filled. From 10.10am to 10.30am, it’s shoes, let’s say. From 10.30 to 11.15, it’s jewellery. Everything is timed — the whole week. If there’s a delay in a meeting, the whole day is fucked up.”
關於 Cathy Horyn 與 Raf Simons 的詳細對談內容可以點擊這裡細閱。
